In a comprehensive set of benchmark tests, virtualization competitors Parallels Desktop 5.0 and VMware Fusion 3.0 were examined head-to-head, finding Parallels to be an average of 30% faster than VMware.

Microsoft tried to appease disgruntled customers on Thursday with news lower Windows 7 upgrade prices as well as a concession that lets owners of the now 8-year-old Windows XP move up to the new operating system at a lower price.

The last test version of Windows 7 has reached a wide audience and is now believed on track for a late October release, putting Microsoft's last cards on the table as it prepares to square off against Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

While Microsoft is working to refine its flagship operating system to be more palatable to a wide audience of PC users, Apple is working to keep Mac OS X a key attraction to Mac hardware to woo potential switchers and retain its loyal users. Here's what's known about Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.

As the previous segment detailed, Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard aren't competing directly; instead, each is part of competitive strategy to either grow the Mac user base at Microsoft's expense, as Apple has been doing, or in Microsoft's case, to stop the hemorrhaging market share losses and reclaim leadership of desktop operating system development.

Microsoft officials were concerned about the performance of Windows Vista and the way it would be compared to Mac OS X long before Apple zeroed in on the problematic software with its humorous "I'm a Mac, I'm a PC" advertising campaign, internal emails show.

Microsoft Corp., engrossed in multi-million dollar marketing blitz to counter comical ads from rival Apple, Inc., is now using a portion of its budget to fuel guerilla retail tactics near the Mac maker's stores.

In spite of Microsoft spending $300 million on a concerted effort to get itself back into a positive public mindset, ads most directly targeting Apple are failing to resonate with web viewers and may have already been thwarted by the Mac maker's response.

At its Professional Developers Conference, Microsoft has shown Windows 7 to the public for the first time and has revealed a user interface with some of the largest changes to the operating system's interface since Windows XP -- if not earlier -- and which bear slight resemblances to Apple software.

Not content with just criticizing Windows Vista itself, Apple has launched a pair of new TV spots that accuse Microsoft of launching its ad blitz to distract the public from the problems with its software.

There's still a few hours to go before Apple takes the wraps off its new notebook line, but that hasn't stopped its rival to the north from scrambling into a defensive stance, firing off emails to its employs that bill the new systems as overpriced, underspec'd and locked down.

Metadata found on Microsoft's creative copy used in its 'I'm a PC' ad reveals that the graphics were actually produced using Macs running Adobe Creative Suite 3. After the details were published on the Flickr photo sharing site, Microsoft scrambled to polish off the embarrassing details last night

Apple's insistence on keeping iPhone 2.0 development under strict non disclosure agreements is frustrating efforts in the development community to share ideas, teach classes on iPhone development, and print reference books on the subject.

Battered and bruised by a long-running advertising campaign on the part of rival Apple, Inc., Microsoft Corp. is turning to sitcom star and world renowned comedian Jerry Seinfeld to help clean up the public perception of its Windows Vista operating system.

The Internet is running out of addresses. To get around this problem and a host of others not addressed in the existing Internet Protocol (IPv4), a new revision has been in development for years, called IPv6. Uptake has been slow; it requires upgrading all the routers and devices that make up the Internet. Apple has a few tricks up its sleeve for pushing IPv6 adoption, and many Mac users are already chin deep in the technology without even knowing it. Here's why, and what it means for users on every platform.

A simple reference in the beta of Apple's latest firmware could hint at a significant remake of the iPod touch. Also, Microsoft has posted the controversial "blind taste test" videos that promote an improved Vista, and a Wyoming county's schools will receive 3,000 MacBooks.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer on Wednesday issued a company-wide memo outlining his battle plan for the new fiscal year in which he singled out the Apple experience as a benchmark for future success.